Fall Focus – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Fashion: The Last “F”

A few months ago I posted my Fall Focus. It included three “F”s: Finances, Fashion, and Fitness.

Finances have been going quite well. I’ve consolidated a lot of accounts and at the same time discovered the art of travel hacking. But more on that in another post.

My fitness routine has been great. I completed Focus T25 and I’m halfway through a 30-day yoga and stretch challenge. My hamstrings are benefiting from this. I’m also seeing the physiotherapist for my tennis elbow, though I don’t think it’s any better. And after cross-country skiing last week, something tweaked in my knee, so that’s now on the agenda.

As expected, “Fashion” has suffered. What it comes down to is this: I hate shopping. The idea of going to the mall or perusing the internet for articles of clothing are not actions I consider fun or enjoyable. Alas, it is the Black Friday weekend, so what better time to venture to the local mall along with the hoards of others in search of an irresistible deal.

Remembering that my goal was to own a few more nice* pieces of clothing, I entered Express where everything in the store was 40% off. Now that’s my kind of deal! I tried on a few things, including red pants, but eventually settled on the brown version instead. I also bought a white and red checkered shirt. I suppose that I can check off the fashion aspect of my Fall Focus challenge, right? Please say yes.

(* by nice, I mean inexpensive that fits me and is more appropriate for work than my North Face hiking shoes and icebreaker long sleeve base layer. The hiking gear is way more comfortable though…)

Focus T25: Time for Gamma

So after a very successful Focus T25 round of Alpha and Beta, I decided to take a break. I initiated my yoga and stretch challenge, and all was great for a week! But then I thought- I need to do more. Not surprisingly, I got a bit antsy, and have now doubled up on my activity. Yoga and stretching are still important over the next few weeks as I head into day 10 of the challenge, but on Monday, I decided to start T25’s Gamma round!

Gamma is all about strength. Of course, the usual speed workout and high intensity cardio are still there, but now, many of the moves are done with weights- burpees and weights, balancing with weights, push ups with weights, and the list goes on. I may be tired these days, but I’m loving the amount of fitness activity this fall. Other than generally staying fit and healthy, there is a purpose to rebuilding my muscles, emphasizing stretching and yoga, and attending physiotherapy to get my arm all fixed up (I think I have a case of tennis elbow :S). It’s all in preparation for the new fitness regimen, starting January 2014. Oh there’s a plan… and I can’t wait!

Prepping for Focus T25 Beta Week 4

I just took the past week off of Focus T25. Nooooo! All my gains are now lost! Just kidding- I don’t get all flustered when I miss a few days here and there. The most important thing is to listen to your body, especially when cold and flu season is in full swing. That was the case this past Monday, when I awoke feeling a bit off. By the end of the day, body chills had hit me and I was dealing with quite the headache. Since I was going strong for quite some time, I realized that it was my body’s way of saying “slow down!”. It felt good to take a bit of a breather. I had a day and half off of work and basically slept.

But enough! Now that I’m all better, it’s time to get into the right mind set for the 4th week of T25’s Beta phase. And every successful fitness week begins with meal prep. I figured this week I would go simple: bake a bunch of chicken, steam some rice and mixed beans, have a few roasted potatoes, and of course, finish with some raw veggies. 5 lunch boxes; 5 days of the week. It’s time to bring it and get back on schedule :).

Focus T25: Beta Week 3

It’s not easy getting back into the swing of things after Thanksgiving, but it sure feels great. After eating two huge meals this weekend, I still managed to get Speed 2.0 in yesterday, and I just completed Upper Focus today. I’m really enjoying the program so far- it’s always a challenging 25 minutes. I think starting next week, I’m going to work in some of the gamma workouts. But as well as things are going, it’s a lot of cardio (maybe too much?), and I think I’ll switch focus to more weight training soon. Body Beast is just around the corner… as long as my right elbow holds up. Curse that tendonitis!

Focus T25: Progress

I mentioned in my last post that Shaun T is my fitness idol. I’ve done about half of his 60-day Insanity program before, but was derailed by a vacation. Insanity is intense, but I loved it. And as things have gotten busier and busier, I’ve realized that the days of doing 1.5 – 2 hours of P90X each night isn’t really sustainable. So lo’ and behold! When Shaun T and Beachbody announced the Focus T25 program, I was super excited.

Why? Because T25 stands for Time: 25 minutes. (Well, according to one of his videos, the “T” also stands for the T in Shaun “T” :D). What’s awesome about this workout is that each video is 25 minutes long. That’s it! And it’s a full body workout with lots of cardio, core work, and resistance training in the form of body weight and actual weights. I’m usually dripping sweat by the end of the 25 minutes.

Twenty-five minutes may seem short, but as the name suggests, the program is all about focus. It’s important to push yourself throughout the 25 minutes and really focus on the intensity and form of the moves. Don’t just do the workout! I try to give 100% all the time, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. I need to step it up myself.

The program is divided into the Alpha Cycle (The Foundation: 5 weeks), Beta Cycle (The Core: 5 weeks), and Gamma Cycle (Strength: 4 weeks). I’m looking forward to the Gamma Phase- there’s some awesome weight training in that segment. Technically, my day one was July 15th. We’re close to the end of September, so my 5 week Alpha Cycle has taken me 11 weeks. But I did remain active with many different hiking trips, so it makes sense (to me) that things would be a bit spaced out. So far, I think I’m seeing results. I gained some weight post-Ireland and I’m happy that I’m trimming down a bit. But as the Alpha Cycle winds down, I’m gearing up for an intense Beta Cycle with minimal days missed. My brother is about to start a Focus T25 challenge on September 30th with his friends and coworkers, and I’ll be joining the intensity, but starting with the Beta Cycle. As he puts it:

“…there are 525,949 minutes in a year. These 10 weeks will have us working out for approx 1500 minutes of the year. That is .3% of our total time this year. I don’t know about you but .3% of my time in a year is just an incredible bargain to taking big steps to a more fit and healthier life =)”

Well said bro. Well said.

Also, this won’t be the last of these high-intensity at-home programs I will do. It was recently announced that P90X3 will be available in December of this year! P90X3!! I’m SUPER excited about this. Once Focus T25 is complete, I know what I’ll be doing :). It’s been a while since I’ve heard Tony’s pterodactyl jokes…